Derrick Rose wants to be able to dunk off his left foot without giving it a second thought.

Hey, who among us doesn’t want Derrick Rose to be able to dunk off his left foot without giving it a second thought?

According to an ESPN.com report, that basketball act is what will make Rose comfortable enough with his surgically-repaired left knee to play for the Chicago Bulls again. What makes Rose comfortable is all that should matter to him—and all that should matter to anybody.

Refreshingly, that’s all that does seem to matter to most people, and has been for a while. And those people include his teammates and other players, whose opinions should count more than anyone else’s besides Rose’s.

Technically, Rose shouldn’t need the public support of his peers. Realistically, it can’t hurt. For instance, it had to make him feel good to hear this from LeBron James during All-Star Weekend last month, back when Rose threw out the notion that if it took him sitting the entire season to heal properly, then that’s what he’d do.

“He shouldn't be rushed back by nobody," James said then. “Derrick Rose is his own man. This is Derrick Rose's career we're talking about; nobody else's. Because if Derrick Rose comes back and gets injured again, Derrick Rose is the only people that's got to deal with that."

That’s been a recurring theme in recent years: the idea that players are the only ones who can be trusted to do what’s best for them. It’s run through all of big-time college sports, through baseball with pitchers’ arms being nurtured back to health, through the NFL during every conflict regarding player safety, through the NHL whenever another player is knocked senseless and has to navigate the fog of recovery.

Rose is the centerpiece of the current NBA debate, unless it’s Dwight Howard — who, for all the soap-opera aspects of his Lakers tenure, is still playing through post-back-surgery complications and an injured shoulder. In fact, when Kobe Bryant made his infamous “urgency” remark about his teammate, he found less support than what we’ve become accustomed to from players indoctrinated into the “tough-it-out” mindset.

That happened even though players aren’t uniformly big fans of Howard’s current persona. But serious injury rehab unites them all. They’ve come out united behind Rose; the reactions of other All-Stars besides LeBron showed that.

And the Bulls players aren’t doing any nudging, even though their livelihoods are directly connected to Rose’s. "Hopefully, he's right on time and right on schedule," guard Nate Robinson was quoted in the story Friday. “He'll be back when he's ready."

It’s obvious why that mindset from other players is important, of course. The very nature of the story – an unnamed source in the Bulls organization giving it up about Rose’s parameters for return, about the doctors clearing him to play and the Bulls’ “hopes” for a return date — paints an unattractive picture of Bulls brass sitting, scowling, looking at their watches and tapping an impatient foot.

The story even mentioned a specific game: March 15, next Friday, at Golden State, roughly 10 months since an ACL operation that generally requires 10-12 months for recovery. Also, the source was quoted in the story, it would be better for Rose to play this season, "and get it under his belt, rather than wonder all summer if he could."

Go ahead and say it: "Gosh, your concern is so touching. You just don’t want your $95 million cornerstone to live a summer with regret. Awwwwww."

No, the Bulls certainly aren’t implying this: We think he’s ready, or should be ready, or needs to be ready soon. It’s getting late in the season. We could miss two excellent shots at a championship if this goes on much longer.

Not to be a nag, Derrick, but what’re you waiting for? The answer: the left-foot dunk. Not a second before that.

Outside observers seem divided; commentators in Chicago and around the league appear split over whether Rose is being too sensitive or showing backbone.

There’s no question among the players, though. Not from Bulls players who risk seeing a season go unrewarded without Rose, and not from other players who obviously will benefit from the absence of the one player who, when he re-enters the picture, would tip the playing field the most as the playoffs approach.

So what? the players are claiming. None of that is worth it if Rose comes back when he’s not ready and does more damage to himself — and, by extension, to the Bulls, the league and all of those players.

Derrick Rose isn’t ready to dunk off his left foot. Until he is, he says, you’ll all have to wait.